WWW (World Wide Web) services provided by many HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) servers connected to internet can easily be utilized by operating HTTP perusal software such as a Web browser executed on a user terminal connected to internet.
Operation of a Web browser has been facilitated by introduction of GUI (Graphical User Interface). The number of HTTP servers in use connected to internet is rapidly increasing. This tendency makes it easy for users to obtain many pieces of information, and WWW services have rapidly become popular.
Recently, commercial transactions have been made through WWW services. Because of the possibility to easily investigate access status of the user as compared with ordinary commerce, it has been now used also for marketing activity.
For carrying out such an investigation, the following methods are known:
(1) Storing identity information intrinsic to the each user using HTTP perusal software such as a so-called Web browser, such as Cookie or the like on the user terminal, an HTTP server acquiring this identity information when the user makes an access to the HTTP server, and recording and analyzing user's accesses to the information provided by the HTTP server;
(2) Analyzing a transmission packet from the user terminal connected to an internet service provider (hereinafter simply referred to as an ISP (Internet Service Provider)), and recording and analyzing user's accesses to the information provided by the HTTP server; and
(3) Recording and analyzing user's accesses, separately from information provided by the HTTP server and access log of the HTTP server, by an application independent of the HTTP server such as access analyzing software and the like.
To put it specifically, there is a method of recording information corresponding to user access in a file by use of the Java (trademark) applet adopted, for example, in http;//www.snippet.com/home.htm or the like.
However, in the aforementioned method (1), there has been room for improvement in terms of certainty, for example, in that Cookie cannot be used for some set conditions of the HTTP perusal software executed at the user terminal.
Because issuance and management of Cookie are accomplished for each HTTP server, it is impossible to carry out an investigation of access status in cooperation with the other HTTP server. In order to investigate access status of the user to a plurality of HTTP servers, therefore, it is necessary to unify access status data for the individual HTTP servers, and a larger number of servers makes it difficult to conduct such an investigation.
In the aforementioned method (2), when investigating access status to an external HTTP server managed outside the ISP used for the user to connect to internet, objects of investigation increase because of a very large number of HTTP servers connected to internet, thus making it very difficult to accomplish investigation.
In the aforementioned method (3), it is necessary to operate an application for carrying out the investigation and to analyze logs, separately from management of information and logs provided by the HTTP server, and also to conduct complicated operations such as specification of an HTTP server to be investigated, thus preventing easy accomplishment of the investigation.
The present invention was made in view of the problems mentioned above, and has an object to provide an information providing system permitting relatively easy investigation of the status of user access.